1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pushing vehicle for nested shopping carts. More specifically, it relates to an improved pushing vehicle with remote control capability and unique safety and operational features. More generally the vehicle of this invention could be used to provide motive power for any type of sled, cart, wagon, or wheelbarrow. For example, it could be used to assist the difficult hand pushing of concrete carrying wheelbarrows at construction sites. As another example, the vehicle of this invention could be used to position heavy palletized loads on the bed of a truck or in the hold of a ship.
Thus it can be seen that the potential fields of use for this invention are myriad and the particular preferred embodiment described herein is in no way meant to limit the use of the invention to the particular field chosen for exposition of the details of the invention.
A comprehensive listing of all the possible fields to which this invention may be applied is limited only by the imagination and is therefore not provided herein. Some of the more obvious applications are mentioned herein in the interest of providing a full and complete disclosure of the unique properties of this previously unknown general purpose article of manufacture. It is to be understood from the outset that the scope of this invention is not limited to these fields or to the specific examples of potential uses presented hereinafter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for pulling non-powered vehicles such as trailers are old and well known in the art. The trailer hitch art and the art of tractor-trailer combinations is well developed. Less common, but not unknown, is prior art pertaining to the pushing of self sustaining, independently operable vehicles with a detachable powered pusher. Many types of remote controlled vehicles are also known in the prior art but not in the combination of my invention. Recently, as retail stores have grown to use more shopping carts, there has arisen a need for a means of efficiently returning the carts to the store. In accordance with conventional terminology, the term nested shopping carts used herein may be taken to mean hand pushed, basket-type carts that nest within one another from front to rear. Such carts are commonly found in commercial retail establishments. Customers collect their purchases in these carts and then use them to carry the goods to their vehicles in the parking lot. Presently, when customers are through with the carts, they are often placed in collection areas, called "cart corrals", in the parking lot area. The carts are manually returned to the store, a few at a time, by store personnel. The expense of this labor is a drain on the store's profitability. A long nested string of such carts is easy to form but extremely difficult to manually manipulate. Recently, some powered means have been developed to assist in the process. However, all the known prior art suffers from disadvantages and problems which are solved by my unique article of manufacture. The following known prior art provides vehicles and components similar in nature. As will be seen, the simplicity and effectiveness of my invention is not rivaled in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,074, issued to Horst Fischer on Jan. 21, 1992, shows a nested cart transport vehicle which is adapted to pull a string of shopping carts behind it. A winch and cable is required to secure the nested carts to one another before the operation begins. An external framework wraps around the outside of a cart thus increasing the effective width of the train of carts. By contrast, the instant invention pushes the carts, thus not requiring a winch and cable. In addition the present invention does not increase the effective width of the train of carts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,840, issued to Keller on Sep. 20, 1988, shows a shopping cart pusher with a single driven wheel. The pusher wheel is articulated to the cart and the pusher vehicle has no means of support other than by using the cart wheels through the articulated joint. The patent requires the shopping cart to be modified by the attachment of the special articulation joint. By contrast, the instant invention is fully self supporting and requires absolutely no modification to the shopping carts to be pushed. In further contrast, the instant invention does not use an articulated joint.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,749,996, issued to Parker et al. on Jun. 12, 1956, shows a sweeper drive wheel raising means. The patent is only of interest for its teaching of a liftable drive wheel which is similar, but not identical, to one of the features of my overall combination. The patent is not directed to a device for pushing other vehicles and does not show any sort of inter-vehicle connection means. By contrast, the device of the instant invention is directed to a pushing vehicle for shopping carts thus requiring some sort of inter-vehicle connection means and actually having a very unique and specialized form of connection means.
German Patent No. DT 24 50 692, issued to Weller on Apr. 29, 1976, shows a modified fork lift truck with a remote control for pushing shopping carts. The inter-vehicle connection of the patent appears to be a dummy basket attached to the fork lift rails which inserts into one of the carts and the drive means is that of a conventional fork lift truck. By contrast, the device of the instant invention has a unique releasable connection means and a self-braking drive means which with a liftable drive wheel.
German Patent No. 23 50 308, issued to Wiedemann on Apr. 17, 1975, shows a three wheeled transporter for supermarket trolleys. The patent discloses a pyramid shaped nose section for fitting inside nested shopping carts. By contrast, the instant invention has automatic connecting means with releasable hooks for encircling the vertical posts of the shopping cart frame and providing lower based and more stable control.
It will be noted that none of the prior art devices provide the simplicity of operation and positive latching but easily releasable characteristics of the present invention.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.